placemann.

1706 W. Nicolson London Diaries 9 Mar. (1985) 593 The Cases of Lord Townsend and Mr Walpole compared with those of our present plenipotentiaries and excluded place-men re-elected.

1732 Verres & his Scribblers 47 The Politician was the Placeman's Boast he wisely made his Head protect his post.

1762 D. Hume Hist. Eng. to Henry VII II. 176 The sherriffs and other placemen had made interest to be elected.

1792 R. Burns Let. 6 Dec. (1985) II. 166 ‘God save the king’ has met with some groans & hisses, while Ça ira has been repeatedly called for.—For me, I am a Placeman, you know; a very humble one indeed, Heaven knows, but still so much so as to gag me from joining in the cry.

1830 Ld. J. Russell Select. from Speeches (1870) I. 296 In the first Parliament of George II it is stated that 257 placemen had seats in this House.

1881 Philadelphia Rec. No. 3443. 4 One of the most disheartening signs of the times is the facility with which the crimes of politicians and placemen are condoned by the people.

1945 R. Hargreaves Enemy at Gate 31 The shifty, oleaginous, power-greedy place-man Olympius.

1998 Economist (Nexis) 3 Jan. 51 Labour repeatedly accused them [sc. the Conservatives] of demolishing democratic institutions and handing over the running of the country to ‘quangos’.., whose unelected governing boards they had stuffed with Tory placemen.

2018 Guardian (Nexis) 3 Dec. The pompous Comrade Ogurtsov, a blustering stuffed shirt and humourless party placeman.

1833 Fraser's Mag. 7 751 When placemanship is combined with Whiggery, the combination is..odious.

1984 Oxf. Illustr. Hist. Brit. vii. 370 Placemanship and careerism, not to say widespread evidence of corruption, had marked the reign of Anne.

2002 Sunday Times (Nexis) 21 July 7 The prime minister's friends certainly believe that the combined strength of Blair and Brown would be even more were it not for the endless game of placemanship played by Brown.